John 14: 17 [Even] the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you

Picture by Michael Dudash

How do I know I have the Holy Spirit? In the past the main deciding factor among many Pentecostals was that people could speak in tongues. tongues became the focus as to who did or did not have the Holy Spirit. For others it might be the sacrament of Baptism. For the more radical it might be drop down and roll that persuades them that the Holy Spirit dwells within.But what does the Bible say about this matter. We are aware that tongues have been one of the most counterfeited of the spiritual gifts . Anyone can have a few drops of water or even be fully immersed and still not be indwelt by the Holy Spirit. A person can have full membership within a church and still not have the Holy Spirit..

John 16:13- 15Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, [that] shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew [it] unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall takeofmine, and shall shew [it] unto you

THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH:

There are several things we can gleam from these verses.

The Holy Spirit >> will be the spirit of truth. So you will not expect to see him lying, but will always uphold the truth of scripture.

The Holy Spirit >> will guide the believer to the truth. So the end result should see an imparted desire for the truth. He will always lead us to the truth. That means exposing error and falsehood either within our lives or elsewhere.

The Holy Spirit>> Does not speak or glorify himself. So you would not expect the emphasis to be on the Holy Spirit. Just as Jesus came to glorify the father, so the Holy Spirit has come to glorify the son.

The Holy Spirit>> Will take what now belongs to Jesus and reveal them to the believer. So we would expect the Holy Spirit to reveal Jesus.

John 15: 26But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, [even] the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me

Now how does this work out within the believer’s life?

THE HOLY SPIRIT GLORIFIES JESUS:

If an individual is glorified more than Jesus, there is a good chance that this has not been initiated by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirits Job is to POINT us to JESUS. It is his job to make real who this saviour is. He takes what he has been shown and unravels it within our hearts and mind.

Heb 10: 16This [is] the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and intheirminds will I write them.

The focus of which is his truth, his revelation and the knowledge about him!!! Scripture is at the heart of this. Take scripture out and be assured it is not the Holy Spirit.

Jesus made it clear

John 15: 7If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you

THE HOLY SPIRIT POINTS US TO HIS WORD:

Now the out working of the ministry of the Holy Spirit is to encourage us to abide in his word . If you abide in everything but his word then you can positively say you don’t have the Holy Spirit. Just as some have placed the teachings of individual men above the scripture. Allowing what they have said to reinterpret scripture and change it to conform to ideas which are so contrary to scripture. Others who places curses on anyones right to read and believe what scripture alone states. Stating that they alone have some special dispensation to interpret the Bible.

Scripture states that we should study to show ourselves approved of God, Sadly there are those who would deny such a right. The HOLY SPIRIT takes the Bible and reveals it to the believer, making it both real and understood. Often the difference before and after conversion of a soul is liken to one who only reads the Bible but without much understanding. Then Reading the Bible after the conversion and the words just leaps out of the page. The change is often dynamic and remarkable.

John 14: 15If ye love me, keep my commandments

THE HOLY SPIRIT HELPS US TO LOVE JESUS:

How can we LOVE someone we have never met, let alone keep his commandments? How is it that the believer has a love for Jesus whom he has not seen? That too is the out working of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is always working to bring the reality of the godhead within our lives. So that we can say we will follow this man Christ Jesus, but we will not follow another. Whilst many have played the part of Jesus in blockbuster films and their acting have been well praised by fellow actors, they simply don’t express the real Jesus. Or communicated the one in whom the believer adores above all else.

The Holy Spirit is our helper and he is able to take what we offer up in our worship and praise and make it real and significant before God. For how can we approach a throne that is beyond our vision, and yet feel we are truly there. How can such worship be made acceptable unless God himself is fully approachable and open to receive us. Yet even in this the Holy Spirit continues to make his presence felt.

The work of the Holy Spirit is to place God central to our lives. If he is not then I would question WHY NOT?

John 17: 26And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare [it]: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.

One of the signs has to be the same LOVE which the father had towards the son might also be within the believer.

So if we have a person who claims to love his church or institution more than Jesus that too will be a glimpse that something is wrong. Now it’s not wrong to loves things, its only when we love them more than God that there is a problem. Now even here some have manipulated people in order to control others for their own benefit.

The argument goes like this:

if you love God you will submit to his authority. That authority has somehow been placed in the hands of men. so you must obey that authority as if it came from God himself. However when that authority wants you to submit and points you in a direction which is contrary to God. In such a situation we are morally bound to resist such evil and obey God. Sadly history has seen such abuse place anathema upon anathema upon ordinary people to create an atmosphere of fear. To stop them from even questioning such abuse.

Biblical Love places God first, his word the Bible. then our love for others. But always in a true Biblical setting.

You might respect your minister as a great man of God. But you will never place him equal or above Jesus. His authority will always be subject to Gods word.

Nor would we expect a true Holy Spirit filled man to start promoting new age mysticism, heresy, or to promote unscriptural teachings. The true man of God would be prepared to submit his life to Gods word. Nor would you be comfortable as Catholics do to exalt the finite and claim that this is the Holy Spirits doing. Mary may have been Jesus earthly mother but no where is she promoted to some queen of heaven. Such promotion does not stem from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Catholics will go to great lengths to get around the simply fact that there is no evidence that God crowned Mary, and that includes time itself. When you had one catholic woman who started to talk about linear time and that God can bend time and thus crown Mary ahead of anyone else . Such excuses are almost laughable if they were not so serious.

However Scripture cannot be broken and no one gets crowned before the rest of us. Nor would anyone of us be crowned with an ungodly title as the Queen of heaven. Where in Catholic teachings do we have a Joseph the king of heaven, Or Paul and Peter as the Kings of heaven. Or even Elizabeth as another queen of heaven. In fact to date such a title has never been conferred upon anyone else. Such a title is reserved for Mary alone, which exposes it as Idol worship. No such inspiration is from the Holy Spirit. Those who do so and are comfortable with it cannot know God. When the simple “Hello” from an angel becomes so distorted and made into a repetitious prayer. A point which even Jesus rebuked. Or as someone remarked its like saying to someone every second hello hello hello hello hello. That not praying let alone talking to God.

THE HOLY SPIRIT CHANGES US :

The Holy Spirit will also convict us of our sins. He will not let go and will never cease to challenge convict exhort and teach the believer. You will simply not be comfortable in a sinful situation. It will always lead to repentance and a change of direction.

Heb 12: 7If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not

John 16: 9-10 Of sin, because they believe not on me, Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more;

But he will also convince us of the righteousness of God. Which mean we will grow in our desire to be righteous? WE JUST WILL NOT BE COMFORTABLE LIVING IN SIN OR IN SINNING. There should be a hunger within the believer to do right and be right with God. To walk in holiness and in a manner that is separated from what we know to be wrong. As I often say God never leaves us how he finds us, but changes us to be like himself. If you are happy as you once where and no change has occurred again the question is WHY, because there should be a change.

John 14: 21, 23He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him…..Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

There is a real sense that those who belong will experience and know the saviour in an intimate way. The Holy Spirit is the one who makes this real. So we can say we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. Yet whilst we cannot say how he physically looked like , yet we can say we know him and love him.

Now Jesus makes it clear that those who don’t know him will not keep his word. They may sing and speak about “a” Jesus, but not really know the true Jesus of the Bible

John 14: 24He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me

THE HOLY SPIRIT PROMOTES THE TRUE JESUS :

The Jesus of the Moslems is most certainly not the Jesus of the Bible and as such they don’t seek to obey or believe the scriptures. To them this Jesus was nothing more than a prophet. A prophet that had to be rescued before he was killed, who allowed another innocent man to die in his place, Then after three days pretended to be resurrected. Such a deception does not express the true nature of Jesus.

Sad to say many a Roman Catholics see Jesus submitting himself to the hands of a priest who pronounces some magically words over some cookie and Jesus becomes the Eucharist. What you eat cannot produce the intimacy that scripture speaks about. True Intimacy produce true obedience. Obedience does not come out of a ritualistic relationship of I must or else, but out of a Love and devotion to the one whom the Holy Spirit reveals. True intimacy realises that all glory belongs to God. Our joy is to see God glorified and lifted up. If you see a minister begin to glorify himself and basically say “LOOK AT ME, HOW GREAT I AM ” QUESTION IT!!! When God moves he gets the glory and man is always humbled.

Many people will throw up the excuse that God can do anything he wants. The one things God cannot and never will do is go against his nature. We can glimpse that truth from scripture itself. We would expect God to reproduce that very same nature within his people. To love the way he loves and see things as he sees them. That means we will have a love for his word. If you don’t have a love for such a treasure, then ask yourself WHY NOT?

THE HOLY SPIRIT BRINGS ASSURANCE OF SALVATION:

Now it is the work of the Holy Spirit to bare witness to Jesus and to witness to us that we belong to God. Now as you can see he does not witness to our flesh, but to our spirits. There is a deep knowing and assurance of belonging which cannot go away. We become aware that this hell hole called earth is not our home. We look forward to a home that we have never seen and yet we know its ours. It’s the work of the Holy Spirit to convince this truth to us. Because we are his, we long to be with him and be fulfilled in him.